Caui
Lofgren
Caui Lofgren - Bio
Caui Lofgren is an artist and educator whose work transforms found materials into reimagined narratives, reconciling personal identity with larger cultural frameworks. Rooted in drawing and painting, his practice expands into collage, found interventions, printmaking, and sculpture. He weaves together family narratives from his Swedish and Filipino heritage, exploring migration, ecology, and environmental conservation. His paternal grandmother’s stories of her native Marin-Duque nurtured his early interest in botany, while his Swedish/Filipino father shared a romanticized vision of a Kerouacian American West. By merging these contrasting perspectives, Lofgren constructs a visual language between representation, abstraction, and magical realism — blending real and imagined histories, migration, capitalism, and cross-cultural mythology.
EXHIBITIONS
2024 Artists of Hawaiʻi, Juror: Tom Klobe, Downtown Art Center, Honolulu, HI
Skyway 2024: A Contemporary Exhibition, Contemporary Art Museum, USF, Tampa, FL
SFMOMA Small Press Book Bazaar! with Kala Art Institute, SFMOMA, SF, CA
2023 Cut and Paste: The Art of Collage, Conversations with Artists, online
New Painting, Juror: Rachel Gugelberger, Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Small and Smaller, Juror: Heather Darcy Bhandari, Site:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Aqua Art Fair, Phylogeny Gallery, Miami, FL
2015 Here and Now, State of the Arts Gallery, Sarasota, FL
2014 87th Annual International Competition (online exhibition), The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
Juror: Irene Hofmann, Phillips Director & Chief Curator, SITE Santa Fe
2012 The Truth is Too Convoluted, C. Emerson Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
Contemporary Painting, Englewood Art Center, Ringling College of Art and Design,
Englewood FL
2011 Navel Gazing, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL (traveled)
2010 Navel Gazing, Brevard Art Museum, Melbourne, FL (invitational, catalog)
S/ART/Q Invitational, Sarasota, FL
Wild, benefit exhibition for Myakka State Park, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL
University of Florida Alumni Exhibition, Tioga FL
2008 Les Ensignants DʼArt, Manatee Community College, Bradenton, FL
NFS, Sarasota Arts Center, Sarasota, FL
2007 Exhibit A, Mack B Projects, Sarasota, FL
Ringling College Instructors Exhibition, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
2006 Ringling College Instructors Exhibition, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
2005 Eden Roc Resort and Spa with Bettcher Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
2004 AFF: Contemporary Art Fair, Bettcher Gallery, New York, NY
2003 Annual Faculty Exhibition, Santa Fe Community College, Gainesville, FL
Recent Paintings, Rowe Art Gallery, Carroll College, Waukesha, WI
Creations, The Art Store, Gainesville, FL
2002 Atlantic Center for the Arts Annual Florida University Student Juried Exhibition, Atlantic
Center for the Arts, Guest curator: Kerry James Marshall
PUBLIC ART AND EVENTS
2017 Grand Slam, Community Tennis Ball Sculpture, facilitated with regional high school and
college students, Realize Bradenton Art Slam, FL
2016 Ringling Underground, Ringling Museum, Sarasota, FL
2015 10x10: Ten Slides Ten Speakers, Herald-Tribune building, Sarasota, FL
2014 Spin Art: Realize Bradenton Art Slam, facilitated with regional high school and college
students, Bradenton, FL
2012 Tangrams: Annual Asian Festival at Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, FL
2007 Classroom in the Park: Arts Day Sarasota, Sarasota
2002 Thompson Elementary Mural: Thompson Elementary School student work. Vero Beach
Public Library, Vero Beach, FL
1998 Becoming Independent/Finley Mural: City of Santa Rosa Parks and Recreation
Department and Becoming Independent
Community Mural: Santa Rosa Parks and Recreation Youth Program
1997 Becoming Independent/Ridgeway Mural: City of Santa Rosa Parks and Recreation
Department and Becoming Independent
ARTIST REGISTRIES AND RESIDENCIES
2024 Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2011 Drawing Center Viewing Program, New York, NY
AWARDS
2000-03 Graduate Teaching Assistantship, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
2002 Deanʼs Award University of Florida, Fine Arts Department, Gainesville, FL
2001 Harn Museum of Art Studio Award Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL
1998 Certificate of Appreciation for Community Enrichment City of Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks, Santa Rosa, CA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2024 Studio Visit Magazine Volume 53, featured artist online and print, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA
Conversations with Artists, February Featured Artist and Interview, online
2012 INDA 7, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2011 INDA 6, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2011 A Gulf Coast Journal with Jack Perkins, PBS/WEDU television interview, FL
2002 Lauren Garber, “A Recipe for the Creation of Three Paintings”, The Satellite, 10/2, Gainesville, FL
Beth Green, “Library to get Studentsʼ Mural”, The Press Journal, 8/11, Vero Beach, FL
Laura Stewart, “Student Art Speaks Volumes”, Daytona Beach News-Journal, 6/23, Daytona, FL Sandi Carroll, “University Student Art Exhibit on View”, The Observer, 6/7, New Smyrna Beach, FL
Paul Marseglia, “Studentsʼ Works on Display”, The Daily Journal, 5/31, Volusia County, FL
SKILLS
painting (oil, acrylic, water media, mural), drawing (wet and dry media), printmaking (intaglio, relief, screen printing), ceramic (wheel, hand building, slip casting), shop equipment (woodworking, welding, casting), gallery preparation and installation, laser cutting, Adobe CS, Office 360, Google Workspace, remote learning